Pages

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Drat! "Vintage" Technology Strikes

My Mac Powererbook Pro laptop isn't this old... but it may as well be. Image pilfered from themuseumstandard.co.uk.

We're in Tahiti, a stone's throw from an authorized Apple store in Papeete's downtown marina. A rare event in our cruising path. The perfect opportunity to address issues with my "ancient" (5 year old) Mac Pro laptop. My Mac is where I store my photos, snail and email addresses, codes for my plethora of passwords, etc.

Before bringing my laptop in for some assistance in reconfiguring my photo library, dutifully, I did a full backup. That was a very, very good thing to do.The next morning, my Mac wouldn't start.No big deal, I figure. I've had power/recharging trouble a-plenty the last two years on the boat with my Mac but it keeps bouncing back.Wrong. "Bad news. It's a dead logic board. Apple no longer supports a fix for it. It's considered too old," the service rep at the Apple store explained. It took a while to convince me this wasn't a matter of my willingness to pay for services for a laptop so clearly out of warranty. The parts are no longer available.Electronics are considerable more expensive outside the U.S. and French Polynesia is no exception. The prices are about 30-50% higher and more. Plus, the French keyboards on computers sold here in French Polynesia are quite different.Therefore, we're shifting our travel plans to head to American Samoa, where there's little to no price penalty for purchasing U.S. products from the U.S. via mail order. That's still several weeks away, most likely early August.Meanwhile, it's quite likely my posts will slow down and photos will be held until I get and set up a replacement to my Mac. This blog post is being typed on Captain Wayne's laptop, which has little in the way of photo programs.If you'd like to know when the blogs are being posted, as there will be more of a gap than usual, please subscribe. Otherwise, just check back one a week or so.Meanwhile, there's still some fabulous photos and great stories just waiting for access to my photo library, wifi and a computer. And the adventures continue, as will the blog. It will just be kinda quiet for a while.Location LocationWe are currently in the marina in downtown Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia (S17.32.393 W149.34.219). We will move to Tiana Marina today to pick up a part to resurrect our mizzen mast triatic stay. We plan to explore Tahiti once we finally finish our boat work. After that, we're off to Moorea, Bora Bora and perhaps Huahane in between. Then, weather permitting we'll break up our passage to American Samoa by stopping in the Cook's Suwarrow. After that... Tonga.... Unless of course, our plans need to change. Again.